A former Ripon Grammar School staff member who was dismissed after just seven months in post has lost an employment tribunal.
Barbara Sheills claimed she was unfairly sacked from the school after whistleblowing on a safeguarding issue she raised when a pupil took an overdose in September 2020.
However, a tribunal held in Leeds found against her. It said there were enough grounds for her dismissal over her conduct and professionalism.
Jonathan Webb, headteacher at the school, dismissed Ms Sheills’ claim on the grounds of “conduct, capability and concerns about a breakdown in her relationship with her line manager which could undermine the smooth operation of the boarding house”.
Safeguarding claim
Ms Sheills started at the school in the middle of the national covid lockdown in March 2020. She worked as a senior house parent and was contracted to North Yorkshire County Council.
The tribunal heard that concerns were first raised by Caroline Day, assistant headteacher of boarding, after Ms Sheills was described as “rude and abrasive” during a meeting to discuss the return of pupils.
She denied this, but the tribunal later found Ms Day’s evidence to be “clear and unequivocal”.
On the same day as pupils returned, staff were given a presentation from the school’s special needs co-ordinator, which included information on “Pupil A”’s welfare needs.
The tribunal heard how the pupil had returned to the school on September 20 after being home for the weekend and that her medication should have been collected by staff and put away in a medical safe.
Leeds Employment Tribunal at City Exchange in Leeds City Centre.
However, her medication was not collected and the following day Pupil A went to Ms Day and told her she had taken an overdose. She was taken to hospital with Ms Day.
Ms Sheills raised a complaint with Marita Murray, deputy headteacher and designated safeguarding lead, on September 22 over Ms Day not collecting the medication.
However, the tribunal heard that the responsibility to collect the medication was a systemic failure rather than that of any individual.
Dismissal backed by evidence
The tribunal heard how repeated concerns were raised by Ms Day over Ms Sheills claiming overtime for tasks which could be done during working hours and using pupils’ numbers instead of names at registration.
It also heard how Mr Webb took advice from the council’s human resources department over Ms Sheill’s sanctioning pupils with an early morning run after they had been talking during the night.
During a meeting with Ms Sheills and her union representative on September 29, Mr Webb described the sanction as “outdated”, “draconian” and against school behavioural policy.
Mr Webb added that another reason for the dismissal was that Ms Sheills had “behaved inappropriately” after she had a conversation about Pupil A’s overdose with a member of the school’s ground staff in September 2020.
There were also allegations that she had edited boarding house logs relating to incident and had also “ignored instructions from Mrs Day and Mr Webb” to maintain an “appropriate boundary” between the school and home while off sick.
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The tribunal found that Mr Webb’s dismissal of Ms Sheills in October 2020 was backed by a “significant amount of evidence”.
Ms Sheills denied wrongdoing and claimed she was sacked because she made an allegation against another staff member.
But, Employment Judge Cox ruled in a report published last week:
“In the light of the clear and convincing nature of Mr Webb’s evidence and the fact that it was supported by a substantial number of emails and meeting notes to which the tribunal was referred, it accepts that Mr Webb had a significant amount of evidence before him to support all these conclusions.
“The tribunal accepts Mr Webb’s evidence that it was unprecedented in his experience that so many concerns about an employee’s behaviour, attitude, professionalism and ability should be raised by a number of staff so early in the employee’s employment.
“There were a number of ways in which the claimant had fallen far below the standards of conduct and capability the school required.”
It added:
“In summary, the tribunal finds that not only were the claimant’s protected disclosures not the principal reason for the claimant’s dismissal, they formed no part of Mr Webb’s decision-making.
“The claimant’s claim that she was unfairly dismissed therefore fails.”
The Stray Ferret approached North Yorkshire County Council for comment, but did not receive a response by the time of publication.
